Search the Community

Main Goal: Recomposition I WANT IT ALL. I want to get stronger, much stronger, and lose weight at the same time. Strap yourself in and watch me chase what some might consider a Holy Grail of bodybuilding. I started this week on a long term goal of doing recomposition. This will be no easy task and require some serious commitments to making it work. It will require that I very finely tune my nutrition to my workout/life schedules. Timing of meals, macronutrients, workouts, stress, sleep, fluids... these are all going to be factors that I need to tune up. This thread will skip most of the details, and will mostly serve as a venue for friends to cheer me on, and for me to post the landmarks related specifically to my goals. If you want more detail on the plan, I started a battle log yesterday Here: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/39161-darwinian-fitness-the-demon-takes-on-recomposition/ This challenge is coming early in the effort, so I'll be laying some of the ground work here. Just a few simple goals to get started. Like I mentioned, there are a lot of factors, so I'm going to start simple and develop a baseline. Also, I should give a nod to Donar, a NF warrior who has demonstrated that this is possible and whose example I'm following. Goal 1: Nail the macros daily Everyday I have to eat within 10g of my macronutrient goals and within 50 calories of my total caloric intake. And no alcohol for the first two weeks... period. If all is going well when the two weeks are up, I may celebrate that fact with one or two Guinesses (155 cal a can). I'll also need a plan for T-day. Maybe try to nail all my macros in one meal? (ehh, that'd be counterproductive) For grading I'll do a simple 3 points a day, 1 for each macro category, and use the percentage to determine the grade. Goal 2: Workout 3 times a week and be consistent on progression/programming. I am doing stronglifts 5x5, and am currently planning a switch to starting strength (almost the same, but a little more variety). A couple times I've gotten cocky and done extra increases, added things on the spur of the moment, or started overtraining something. During this challenge, I will stick to the following plan throughout. Do either workout A or B depending which day it is. Then do one, and only one, accessory workout or practice a form. Then, outside the gym, no other exercises. I need be consistent because I am going to be honing my nutrition program based on my workout program. For the moment I will be practicing power cleans as my accessory. I haven't learned these yet and they're part of starting strength. Once I have them down, I'll move them into my regular workouts and do other accessory work. Grading: percentage of total points. 1 point per workout, 1 point for being consistent (4 exercises as planned, no excess, no slack). Goal 3: Track measurements, calculate body fat, weekly and adjust to maintain body weight. Recomp is all about turning fat into muscle. I'm overweight, but I feel healthy. I need to figure out my metabolism. Later I can try burning off the weight as needed. Adjust as needed. If weight goes up, cut 100 cals/day. If body fat does not go down while weight stays the same, cut 100 cals/day. Stalls in progress, more protein? more calories? (depends on what's going on with weight/BF) I'll get my official starting weight on day one of the challenge. There's a bunch of stuff to adjust. I'll deal with it when I get there depending on the problem. Grading: Lots of variables. Basically, I pass with good effort, taking all measurements, and making sensible adjustments, and things don't go off the rails. A: 3/3 (regular strength increases, body fat loss, no change in weight) B: 2/3 C: 1/3 D: some weight loss >5 lbs, but no strength loss, and I at least got closer to figuring out the balance F: off the rails, 5lbs. gained/lost, loss of strength, body fat increases Life Goal: Become a thriftier shopper -- especially for food I spend way too much on food, and drinks. Mainly, I don't take the time to look for deals, buy whatever, and spend extra on convenience. This is getting especially important as I'm trying to eat healthier. But I've got to be careful not to buy unhealthy foods. Some strategies: by as many sale items as possible coupons? I need to find some of these go to farmer's market more often for vegetables/stick to seasonal choices bus to larger grocery stores and buy in bulk take advantage of free food opportunities (but only if its stuff other than junk food, which is rare) etc. Grading: save food receipts, for all food including restaurants etc., for the 6 week challenge A: under $300 spent B: under $350 C: under $400 D: under $450 F: over $450 Since this is all a big experiment, for your entertainment: SCIENCE! http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/10/mouse-impervious-scorpions-sting

A Brief Introduction Hello warriors! I just finished my first Nerd Fitness challenge and I'm ready to get swole. The focus was on strength training a little bit of weight loss and body recomposition. I am continuing on with these goals, but this time stepping it up. On the last challenge I managed to lose about 8 lbs and lost about 3 inches from my waist. A friend of mine, who I'll admit tends to exaggerate, said it looks like I'd lost about 20 lbs. I have lost about 15 over the summer, but we all know how weird and tricky weight by itself can be. Main Quest: Get in shape by the time I finish my PhD. About a year and a half from now, I hope to be: 40-50 lbs. lighter Swole A zen "master" - practice and live a more peaceful, mindful, and disciplined but balanced life Pushing my mind to its fullest potential so I can defend my dissertation and have a successful career. Current Goals on the Quest: Lose fat/weight Build more muscle Improve exercise knowledge and perfect my lifting form I am currently about 245-250 lbs. at 6' 0" tall. I have now done about 7 weeks of Strong Lifts 5x5 and will be continuing it on this challenge. My goals are to stick to that, eat healthy and get more protein, and to really focus on perfecting my lift form and technique. I've got my body fat calipers coming in the mail, hopefully by the end of week 1. I'll put up some measurements and starting photos soon. Goal 1: Workout at least three times a week emphasizing strength training by following the Strong Lifts 5x5 program. I should have at least 18 workouts during the challenge. I usually go every other day, so that gives me three extra workouts during the 6 weeks I can use to catch up on weights if needed. For goal 1 I will continue following the Strong Lifts 5x5 program as in my first challenge. Here are my current lifts and goals following the program: Lift Current lbs. Goal lbs. Pts. Squat 155 240 Bench Press 140 180 Barbell Row 140 180 Overhead Press 100 130 Deadlift 165 245 I calculated most of these goals using the stronglifts excel sheet to find the six week goal. For the overhead press goal, however, I calculated 65% of my bench goal. This turned out to be 120 lbs. which would result in only a gain of 20 lbs. which would be too easy. So I added 10 more to make it a worthy goal. I also add a short pilates routine and some stretching to the end of my lifts to help work on balance, coordination, core strength, and flexibility. It is the beginner's workout listed and described in The Complete Book of Pilates for Men by Daniel Lyon Jr.: The Hundred Roll-ups Single Leg Circles Rolling Like a Ball Single Leg Stretch Double Leg Stretch Spine Stretch Forward Grading: I will simply count 2 points for the number of workouts I get done. For grading strength gains, I will count 1 point for being within 10 lbs. of a goal, 2 points for meeting the goal, or 3 points if I exceed it. I will then divide by the total number of points: Points = ( 2* Number of workouts + lifting points ) / ( 36 + 15 ) Here is my grading scale. I have to get all my workouts in and hit at least one goal to pass. I get an A if I do all that and meet all goals and exceed at least one and/or get all three extra workouts in. A = 48-52 pts. B = 42-47 pts. C = 37-41 pts. F = <37 pts. Note: extra workouts will yield some bonus points for the extra effort. Attribute Points: +1 STA for 18/18 workouts +1 STR for each 5 lifting points earned (up to +3 STR) +1 CHA if I can squat my body weight or more by the end of the six weeks Goal 2: Consume Between 2400 and 2900 calories and at least 200g protein a day. My calorie intake for maintenance is calculated to be 2947. I'm aiming to burn off some fat so I'll be aiming for 500 cal. under maintenance. Getting the protein will take precedent over eating fewer calories so if I need a couple hundred extra calories to get the protein I need I'll add them up to 2900. Also, I will be avoiding sugar, and keep carbs to a minimum, and preferably only for workout recovery. I will allow myself three "free" days during the challenge. These are not excuses be a glutton, but just days when I reward myself for good work and take my mind off the challenge, maybe have a few drinks etc. Grading: I'll get one point for each day where calories fall in the specified range, and one point for each day my protein is above 200g; not counting "free" days. My grade will be the points divided by the total possible points. Attribute Points: +1 CON passing grade on calories +1 CON passing grade on protein +1 CON more than half of days have <40 g sugar and <100g carbs consumed Goal 3: Inspect and Improve form on Lifts I have a copy of starting strength coming in the mail. It should be here this week. The first component of this goal is to read all the chapters on the lifts. As I finish each I will use that knowledge to improve my form at the gym. Form-Checks: During the challenge, I will take form-check videos of myself doing the exercises and post them on my thread. The first video for each will be put up early in the challenge so that I can look at it and get initial feedback. A second video for each will be posted during the last week for a final assessment and grading. Grading: The end of challenge videos will be graded by members of the Nerd Fitness warrior guild. I expect they should be graded as follows: A - perfect form, maybe one very minor flaw that's easy to fix B - a few minor flaws that are easy to fix C - some flaws requiring some effort/attention to fix F - several flaws requiring significant effort/attention to fix, the exercise will result in injury if continued in this way Or something like that, it will be pretty subjective, and I don't have a specific points/checklist. Any warrior can grade me, and I will take all feedback into account and take an average, but I will weight your grades by your Levels so that experience of the grader is taken into account. Attribute Points: +1 WIS finish reading Starting Strength + 1 CON grade C or better on form, + 1 CON Grade of B on form + 1 STR grade A or better Life Goal: Follow a M-F routine that facilitates a more healthy, productive, and balanced lifestyle I often struggle with keeping myself on a regular schedule which makes it easy to lose track when on occasion life/shit happens. Also, I need to eliminate distractions like news, facebook, email, and NF. I will make time for each rather than randomly using them as distractions. And getting 8 hours of sleep will be a priority. I originally had a scheduled, daily agenda here, but I've changed it to more of a list of essentials. Some things will have scheduled times, but I just want to make sure most things just have a set amount of time reserved. Every day M-F should have the following essential elements: Before Work: 6:00 am - WAKE UP AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF BED! DO NOT TOUCH THE SNOOZE BUTTON! A good solid warrior breakfast On workout days - a morning workout, on rest days some light stretching in the morning At Work: Be at work by 9 am Write one hundred lines of code (or three functions/classes or equivalent) 1 hour Planning or analyzing experiments 1 hour Documenting/writing Read at least one paper 1 half hour reflecting on days work/lessons 1 Brunch and two lunches (each with lots of protein, try to take an hour or less for all three) Get it all done before 6pm At Home: Be home by 6:30. Spend 10-15 minutes cleaning/tidying the apartment Cook and eat a good dinner Read and study non-work stuff (this will be my time for reading starting strength) I am also studying actuarial science as a plan B for after the PhD. This will be when I read some math texts and work on practice problems for exam P. 8 hours of sleep Each day (any time I can): 1 hour Evening computer time (facebook, NF, news) 10-15 min meditation This is the essence of my most productive days when they exist. Fridays will require some flexibility since there are usually more meetings and, of course, drinks after work so I'll have to work around that. Weekends will be off the schedule and focus on catching up on things as needed then relaxing and doing fun stuff. Then Sunday afternoons/evenings will be for preparing for the week. I'll have to have meals prepped if I want to stick to such a tight schedule. Grading: I'll grade each of the 30 possible days as pass/fail. As long as I manage to get a little bit accomplished on these things each day and it doesn't seem like my day fell apart I will count the day as a pass. Its subjective, but I'm confident that the distinction will be pretty clear. A if > 25/30 days do not fall apart B if > 20/30 C if > 15/30 F if < 15/30 Attribute points: +1 CON grade of C or better +1 WIS grade of B or better +1 CHA grade of A (because strong leaders get shit done) Final Grade: I will take the average of all four goals using a 3 point scale: A = 3, B = 2, C = 1, F = 0. Motivation -- Fuck Entropy! I am going to live a happy, healthy, successful, and well-balanced lifestyle for the rest of my life. Wish me luck. This is going to be an intense 6 weeks.

Said I wasn't gonna do another challenge, ended up being a sucker anyway... you all knew I couldn't resist. And if you know me well enough, you'll also know I have always had this condition that I've had to deal with for a very long time... it's called laziness. And slowly but surely, it will be mastered. ... like I said, slowly. The Quest: Conquer laziness, gain strength! Stretch every morning, stretch 10-20 minutes, specifically legs Move go to the gym 5x/weekMonday, Wednesday, Friday: heavy (...or soon to be heavy) weightlifting, alternating days between lower/upper bodySunday, Thursday: cardioSome starting stats: (all 3x5)Benchpress: 30lbsShoulder press: 30lbsSquat: 45lbsDeadlift: 40lbs Refuel eat 3 healthy meals a daylow in refined carbs, nothing too different, I'll still be eating potatoes and rice sometimes, and the occasional treat. Focus (life goal) improve my GPA as best as I cando the required work, dammit, without procrastinating. I've got every single assignment due this semester written out on a calendar... I got this. Starting GPA: 70.19% Side-Quests: memorize hand-wrappingperfect roundhouse kick on my own (I'm not joining Muay Thai at school... there was no free trial class and no guarantee of a full refund back. When I visit home though, I'll be doing a couple drop-in classes to keep in touch with it)call home once a weekdon't take any cash to school (can't spend it on food if I don't have it, and campus doesn't take debit cards)clean out photos/files off of phone and organize on computervacuum my room twice this challengespend an average of 45$/week on groceries This is the simplest, (almost said laziest) challenge I've written out so far and it feels really weird. But minimalist is good, so let's roll with it!